28 May Miners Drop Opener To Tri-City
ALEXANDER SETS TEAM SINGLE GAME STRIKEOUT RECORD IN DEFEAT
May 27, Augusta, NJ – The Sussex County Miners dropped their inaugural game in the Frontier League by a final score of 2-1 to the Tri-City ValleyCats in front of 2,176 fans at Skylands Stadium on Thursday night. The loss marks the first time the Miners have not held 1st place in regular season competition since July 9th, 2018.
Tyler Alexander (0-1) pitched brilliantly for the Miners, striking out a team-record 12 batters in the game. His 12th strikeout came in the 8th inning, when he fanned Tri-City’s Jake Barbee. Alexander avoided a lot of bats, as 11 of his 12 strikeouts were swinging strikeouts.
The Miners lone run was pushed across in the 6th inning, when Martin Figueroa walked with 2 outs, stole second base and advanced to 3rd on a throwing error, then scored when Audy Ciriaco reach on another throwing error, this time by Carson Maxwell.
Maxwell would make up for the error in the 9th, however, when his drive to left-center field eluded Miners CF Aaron Knapp, resulting in a triple that scored Francis Martinez. Maxwell would score one batter later on a single by Avery Tuck.
The Miners and ValleyCats will play the 2nd of their 5-game series Friday night at 7:05 pm. Scheduled starters are Billy Layne for the Miners, and Josh Hiatt taking the mound for the ValleyCats.